I've always had trouble with the tinfoil hat stuff. Do they really bench Bryan past the Rumble just to avoid a 3-peat of a Royal Boofest? If that's the case then they really have no idea what happened at the past two Rumbles, at all.

Bryan didn't ruin the Rumble, WWE torpedoed their own events by poorly shoehorning not over guys and not embracing the story they told, both years happening to have the best stories revolve around Bryan.

If Batista or Roman had returned earlier, feuded with the real top heels in Triple H and Stephanie, and been kept as mostly silent ass kickers, they probably would have been cheered.

I have a lot of trouble believing that benching Bryan is just to allow Roman to go over when there's other alternatives. You could bury Bryan, you could turn him heel, there's other things that could keep him preoccupied. Burial would probably just keep people cheering, whereas a total character change could be huge.

I'll put my metal hat back on if Bryan returns on the Monday after the Rumble. When WWE is so hurting for stars, and supposing that there is malicious intent behind benching him, isn't this the time you bring him back?

In my experience the truth is usually somewhere in between the two biggest extremes, in those case the keeping him on injured reserve as a precaution or as a means to bury him. Personally I think a major heel turn would be the better way to achieve both outcomes.

It would have to be a total character change. No "yes," and definitely no "no." New music, new gear, new look, probably trim if not remove the beard. I'd book him as the A+ player and align him with Triple H against Roman. Let his wife be his manager. Roman could learn a lot working with Bryan more, Bryan could make Roman look great, we would all be entertained, Bob's your uncle.